Banks

Tia is cuddled up to Fallon in the backseat beside me, and I can’t help but let my gaze fall to her, knowing I’ll never be the man she leans on. At least, not physically.

The roads are covered in fresh snow and I wonder when this winter will ever end. I grew up on the East Coast where the winters were bad, but this wild land is something else.

It’s a long drive back from the hot springs. Or at least it feels that way. Everyone is quiet and exhausted, but it’s more than that, it’s like every mile closer we get to the compound, something ominous settles on the car. Like coming down from a high, or out of a dream, back into the darkness of reality.

A hand wraps around mine, and I glance over at Tia. She gives me a small smile, squeezing my fingers before pulling away, and snuggling back into Fallon’s chest.

It’s a small display of affection, but it makes my chest compress.

When the hell did I get so invested?

I know the answer. The moment I held her bare body against my own, took her not as a fuck-buddy but as my wife. To call it anything different would be a goddamn lie.

“What the hell?” Huxley says from the driver’s seat as we make our way up the long driveway of our compound.

“Shit,” Salinger mutters beside them.

I can’t see what they’re looking at as the van pulls to a stop in front of our house.

“What’s wrong?” Fallon asks, sitting up, already looking like he’s ready for a fight.

“Someone vandalized my fucking truck.” Huxley puts the van into park and jumps out.

“Stay here,” Fallon says to Tia, before following Huxley out.

Quick to take action, but not to think, all the men jump out of the van.

“What happened?” Tia asks, craning her neck to see what the others are looking at. Our wife has no interest in staying put, she wants to know what is going on as badly as everyone else.

“Looks like someone took a bat to one of the cars.” I glance around the property looking for any other damage, anything that might signal someone is still here. But I see none.

“Who would do that?” Her fingers slip between mine. “Do you think it was Lawson?”

“No.” I shake my head and open my door, refusing to let go of her small, soft hand. “That isn’t his style.”

She lets me help her out, not releasing my hand as we walk towards the others.

The damage to the truck is significant. Both headlights and the windshield have been smashed in.

“I’ll kill the fucker,” Huxley mumbles.

“Do you have any idea who would do this?” I ask, a pressure at the base of my skull warning me that something isn’t right.

Huxley shakes his head. “No fucking clue.”

Tia shivers beside me as a gust of cold wind whips around us.

“We should go inside.” I place a palm on her lower back and guide her towards the door.

It isn’t until I open it that I realize what’s wrong, the alarm system has been tampered with.

I’m about to tell Tia to go back to the others when I hear the click of metal across the room.

“I was wondering if you were ever coming home,” a man’s slurred words draw my attention to the couch.

Sitting there with a half-empty bottle of Huxley’s whiskey in his hand, a pistol in his other, I recognize the dark-haired man who points the gun at me.

Peter or Philip, he was one of the husbands of the woman who’d tried to give herself an abortion. The woman I couldn’t save.

He stands, wobbling as he does, and waves the gun around carelessly.

“Banks,” Tia whimpers beside me.

“Go outside, Tia,” I demand.

“No,” the guy yells, pointing the gun at Tia. “You stay here.”

“Whatever your issue is, she isn’t involved.”

He chuckles a disjointed sound. “She was there with you. You could have saved her... You should have…” His eyes are red, distant. “You killed my wife...”

“I tried to save her, but what she took--”

“Are you blaming her?” The gun is pointed back at me. “You guys always blame the victims. But it’s you. The... scientists... you did this. You killed them all. All those women. You don’t deserve to have a wife.” He points the pistol back at Tia.

Fear is the only motivator now. Not fear for myself, but for Tia.

She’s all that matters.

I move in front of her, blocking his shot if he takes one.

“You don’t want to do this.”

“Why not?” His eyes are desperate. “What do I have to lose? I’ve already lost everything.” He tosses the bottle across the room and it shatters as it hits the fireplace. “You took everything from me. Now I’m going to take everything from you.”

“Tia, go,” I demand.

“Banks.”

“Go.”

A shot rings out as she runs through the door.

The bullet grazes my shoulder, but even though I feel the sting, I know it does little, if any, damage. And I take the opportunity to lunge for the man.

The gun goes flying as I tackle him to the ground. He swings wildly at me, clipping me in the jaw.

My own fist makes an impact on his temple, and for a moment the world goes black. It gives the man the opportunity to get on top of me. Hell if I’m going to let this bastard win. His fingers try to wrap around my neck, but I pry them away.

Yelling and footsteps let me know that the others are here, and the man’s weight is pulled off of me. But he doesn’t go down without a fight. He clips Huxley in the eye, and it’s only when Fallon gets him in a chokehold that the man finally stops.

“I’m not here for you,” he spits out. “Just...” His words are slurred and rambling. “Just give me the scientist and I’ll go.”

“You know as well as I do that you’re not walking out of here except in handcuffs,” Salinger says.

He laughs. “You turn me in and I’ll use my phone call to inform Warren Thorne that I know where his daughter is.”

The room goes still, and a coldness settles over us.

“Get the hell out of here,” Fallon commands, not taking the bait. In the midst of all this chaos, I can’t help but feel pride in his resolve. “We won’t be threatened.”

The man chuckles sadistically. “In that case, you’ll be without a wife as soon as I notify the authorities.”

“Like hell, you will,” Huxley says, stepping closer. “I know where you got your drugs for your wife and I know you bought more than one dose. And that’s not all I know about you.”

The man growls in anger, a bear who’s missing a meal. “You think you can hold that over me? Kyle already took the fall for that.” He clenches his fist, ready to pounce again.

Huxley doesn’t move fast enough and the man gets him in his eye a second time.

“Goddammit,” Hux bellows and I use the moment to strike.

Using my good arm, I push the man to the entrance of the house, holding him by his neck. “You need to go, and keep your mouth shut or we will dig up all the dirt on you and the men at your compound. The family you’re fucking with has more intel than you’ll ever have. Understood?”

I push him out the door and he runs, falling into the snow, then pulling himself up again, scurrying away like an uncoordinated rabbit.

Good. I turn back to the room, a thousand things running through my head, most importantly getting Tia safe.

People know she is Warren Thorne’s daughter.

But the thing that is really causing my heart to pound in my chest are the words I used: The family you’re fucking with.

I called the people I live with family.

It doesn’t seem to matter how hard I’m fighting it. Tia, these men, they are my family. And that might be one of the scariest revelations of all.